Refuge: After the Collapse
Page 9
But the shout that followed the rifle report was even more shocking than having a bullet strike the water so close by. Whoever had fired it knew his name! He lifted his head just enough to see two figures emerge from the woods and start down the bank in his direction. One of then looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place him; but the other one—the one carrying the rifle that had just missed him, whether intentionally or not—was Jessica’s ex-boyfriend, Joey! The barrel was even then pointed right at him, and Grant wondered if Joey was walking closer simply to ensure that he would not miss the second time. It was easy to imagine that he might do such a thing, considering the terms on which they’d parted the last time they’d met. But Joey didn’t shoot; he wanted answers instead. At the time, Grant thought he did a good job of throwing him off, as the last thing he wanted was for these two to know where Jessica and Casey really were.
“I’ve been wondering where you were,” Joey had said. “We were expecting to find you and Jessica and Casey here when we got here, but I could tell as soon as we looked around that no one’s been here since the blackout. So where is she?”
“She’s safe, I’m sure of that, but I haven’t seen her or Casey in over a week.”
“What do you mean you haven’t seen them in over a week? If you haven’t seen them, how the fuck do you know she’s safe? The only reason they left New Orleans was to come here with you, so why aren’t they with you?”
“We did leave New Orleans together. And we almost made it all the way here, too, but we couldn’t cross the state line into Mississippi on the bicycles. There was a roadblock.”
“Zach and I didn’t see a roadblock, and we rode all the way here on a motorcycle.”
“Well, you probably got through before they set it up. I don’t know when you left New Orleans, but it took us three days to get to the state line.” Grant could tell Joey was thinking about this, considering whether it was possible he was telling the truth. It was plausible, because even if the two of them had left the city a day or two after he left with the girls, they could have traveled this far in just a few hours on a motorbike, even considering the stalled cars and other obstacles that would be easy enough to get around on a two-wheeler. Grant didn’t know for sure when the roadblock that really had stopped them had been set up, but it was possible it wasn’t there when Joey and his friend rode across the state line. It was also easy to imagine that the two of them passed along the same road he and the girls were on without seeing them, perhaps after they’d turned off one evening to camp, as they had done more than once.
“So what happened at the roadblock? Why are you here in a canoe and why aren’t Jessica and Casey with you?”
“They told us they weren’t permitting anyone across the state line from Louisiana unless they had a picture I.D. to prove they were residents here. None of us did, of course, so they wouldn’t let us in even though my parents own this cabin and land, which is obviously in Mississippi. They told us about a shelter south of here on the Louisiana side that had been set up for refugees from New Orleans and the rest of the region, and said we could stay there and that there was food, water, and security. I was against the idea, but since we couldn’t continue on to the cabin on the bikes, Casey and Jessica insisted that we go check it out. They were really getting scared after all that we had seen on the ride north, and with the promise of a safe refuge, they outvoted my plan to try to get here some other way. I told them I was sure we could find a canoe somewhere and paddle upriver to get here, but they didn’t want to try that.”
“So, you’re telling me that’s where they are now?” Joey demanded.
Grant had been thinking fast at the time, making up the story as he went along. He had to come up with a believable explanation of how he got separated from the girls. The last thing he wanted to do was let these two find out about the catamaran, and that all of them were planning to sail away from America for the foreseeable future. He didn’t want them to think he’d abandoned them or that something had happened to them, either, especially not to Jessica. If Joey thought he was to blame, Grant knew there was no telling what he might do. An official shelter seemed like the most logical explanation, even though, to his knowledge, no such shelters had really been opened.
“Yes, as far as I know. I rode there with them even though I didn’t want to go near a place like that. I tried to talk them out of it, but they weren’t interested in my plan. I told them I didn’t think the officials would be watching the river, and that I knew where we could probably find a canoe. I thought it would be possible to paddle upstream from the Louisiana side and get here, but they didn’t want to try it, and I couldn’t change their minds. So we rode on and when we got close to the shelter we hid the bikes in the woods and walked the rest of the way. The shelter was on the campus of a high school. It was crowded and noisy, but there was food and water. I had been in a shelter like that after Hurricane Katrina and I had hated all the rules and the crowded conditions then. I stayed there for nearly a week, trying to get them to change their minds and come with me, but they felt safe and didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want us to split up, but I had to get out of there; I just couldn’t take it. I managed to sneak out at night and then I got back to my bike and rode until I came to the first bridge crossing over the Bogue Chitto. I thought I would be able to find a canoe at somebody’s abandoned river camp, and I did. I found this one and here I am.”
“Bullshit! You didn’t paddle all the way up here against that current. We heard a motor, Grant. Where is the boat? Are Jessica and Casey in it right now?”
“Okay, look, Joey. There is a Johnboat. I didn’t mention it because I am here in the canoe. Shortly after I found the canoe, I was having a hell of a time fighting my way upstream paddling by myself. As luck would have it, the second day I found a Johnboat with an old outboard at another deserted camp and managed to get it running. I towed the canoe behind it, just in case, and it was a good thing I did, since the motor just ran out of gas right before I got here. That’s why you heard it. It’s just a short distance downstream, but no, Jessica and Casey are not with me, I swear. I’m telling you the truth about that, Joey.”
Grant had thought that Joey bought the story. He was clearly disappointed, as he had obviously concluded that Grant’s arrival here meant Jessica must be nearby. Grant didn’t know what was going to happen next, but he had a feeling Joey and his friend weren’t going to simply go away just because Jessica wasn’t with him. They needed the cabin and its supplies and weren’t going to give them up, whether the rightful owner was there to claim them or not. Now Joey also wanted the boat he’d heard, and Grant regretted that he had not shut down the engine much farther downstream, out of earshot. Then he could have omitted that part of his story and his claim to have paddled all the way might have been believable. But what was done was done. Joey picked up the lever-action carbine from the canoe and passed his scoped rifle to his friend, telling him to keep an eye on the cabin until he got back.
“Okay, dickhead. Let’s go get that motorboat first. We’ll tow it up here behind the canoe if we have to. Then you can tell me exactly how to get to that fuckin’ shelter. Jessica is obviously just confused and needs someone to explain the situation to her. She’ll be glad to come here now that she knows I’m here.”
When they had left, with Zach guarding the cabin and Joey sitting in the stern of the canoe with the carbine covering Grant in the bow, Grant had deliberately made as much noise as he could get away with, splashing the paddle and talking loudly. He had hoped this would give Scully enough of a heads-up so that he would be ready when they got to where he was supposed to be waiting in the Johnboat. Of course, when they got there, the boat was empty and Scully was nowhere in sight. And although Grant had claimed the outboard engine had run out of gas and quit on its own, when Joey hopped aboard and checked the tank he found out otherwise. He pulled the starter rope and it fired right up, causing him to look at Grant with renewed distrust. With the canoe trailing b
ehind, they had motored back to the cabin where both were quite surprised to see Zach standing there with his rifle pointed at a dark figure lying spread-eagled on the ground, wild dreadlocks draping about his face as he raised his head enough to see them get out of the boat.
When Zach told Joey what had happened and what Scully had already said, Grant knew he had a problem. Their stories didn’t match regarding the Johnboat or the whereabouts of Jessica and Casey, but it wasn’t Scully’s fault. He didn’t know anything of Joey or Jessica’s history with him. Grant simply hadn’t thought about Joey anymore after he left New Orleans until today, and there had been so many other things to talk about in the short time he had spent with Scully. Even when he told him of her having a fight with her boyfriend before they left the city, he’d never mentioned Joey by name because he didn’t think it mattered.
It now became apparent to Grant that his elaborate story about the refugee shelter had fallen apart in the face of what Scully had already let slip to Zach. Having no way of knowing Zach’s friend was the boyfriend Jessica had left in New Orleans, when he heard their names mentioned along with Grant’s he naturally assumed they all knew each other and casually said they were waiting on the boat. Of course that was completely different from Grant’s version of where they were, so now they were both seated in the cabin, facing an enraged Joey with his armed accomplice, and the game was up.
“You’re a lying son of a bitch, Grant! I should have beaten the crap out of you in New Orleans and never let Jessica out of my sight.”
“Look, Joey. I’m sorry about what happened in New Orleans, but I was just trying to help Casey and Jessica get away from an impossible situation there. You know how it was. That’s why you and your friend left, too. You can see for yourself how isolated this place is, and you know by now that what I said about having everything we need here is true.”
“Well what good is it doing them, Grant? Why weren’t the three of you here when we got here, like the note Casey left for her dad said you would be? The only reason I came here was because of Jessica. Otherwise, Zach and I could have gone anywhere we wanted with that motorcycle.”
“You could have come with us in the first place when we were all trying to get you to. That’s what Jessica wanted. Now you can see why I wanted to bring them here; there’s plenty of food here and it’s still relatively safe. Hey, I don’t mind that you’re using the place and the supplies. There’s enough to share. I just came here to get what we could carry in that boat and canoe because it’s going to help Jessica and Casey survive.”
“So why the fuck did you make up all that bullshit about them being in a refugee camp if you knew they were somewhere else all along?”
Grant knew there wasn’t any point in trying to create another story. He decided to tell the truth, because in the end, it was Jessica’s decision if she wanted to give Joey the time of day again or not. He didn’t need to waste time here with these two idiots pointing guns at him and Scully when they had a ride waiting for them downriver. No matter what he did or said, it was clear that it was not going to be easy for him to extricate himself and Scully from this messy situation. Maybe it would be best to let the men come along to the boat. Then they would have to face Artie and Larry, both of whom were armed; not to mention an angry Jessica, whom Grant was certain would not be happy to see this clown again, much less let him come aboard with them. So he decided to tell Joey the truth.
“Okay, I didn’t really know what to do, to tell you the truth. What would you do if somebody shot a rifle bullet right past your head into the water and then came out of the woods pointing a gun at you? I didn’t know what to tell you. But truth is, Jessica and Casey are fine. Casey’s father and her uncle have sailed all the way here from the Virgin Islands to find her. If you’ve been dating Jessica long at all, you know she went down there last summer with Casey for a week of sailing with Casey’s Uncle Larry. Anyway, he’s got some kind of big ocean-going catamaran, and that’s what they came here on. Scully came with them.”
“Another fuckin’ lie, huh? All that stuff about working on a container ship and buying that boat and shotgun, that was just a lie, huh, Scully?”
“Yeah, it’s a lie,” Grant said. “Scully is a good friend of Casey’s Uncle Larry. But what I told you about us not being able to get to the cabin on the bicycles was true. A lot happened in the meantime, but basically we ended up on the lower Pearl River in canoes and that’s where Casey’s dad and Scully found us. They were on their way to this cabin when they did, because they first went to New Orleans and found the note Casey left for her dad with the map I drew to the cabin on it.”
“So where exactly are they now, and you better not make up any more bullshit. I’m not fuckin’ around, Grant.”
“They’re with Casey’s dad, and the three of them should be on her Uncle Larry’s boat by now. It was not far downriver from where we met up. The plan was that they would wait there while Scully and I made the run up here to the cabin in the Johnboat. With all of us on the catamaran, we knew we would need any extra food we could get.”
“The catamaran is in the river? How far downriver?”
“I don’t know exactly, maybe a hundred miles, or a little more with all the twists and turns. Scully knows where it is, I haven’t seen it; but it’s on the lower Pearl River, in the area called the Honey Island Swamp.”
“I’ve been there,” Zach said, “a long time ago, fishing with my grandpa.”
“It took us all day yesterday and most of today to get here motoring upstream,” Grant continued. “There are lots of shoals and logs across the channel in this upper part of the Bogue Chitto, but once it runs into the Pearl it’s deep and wide open. We planned on staying here overnight and getting back down there to the boat tomorrow.”
“Well, just how big is this catamaran?”
“Scully can answer that better than I can. Like I said, I haven’t seen it, but they sailed it across the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico to get to New Orleans, so it’s big enough.”
“De boat thirty-six feet long an’ twenty-two feet on de beam. She got de cabin in both hull, but she got lotta deck, too.”
“So, it’s big enough that all of you were going to sail away on it? That’s what, six of you, with Casey’s dad and uncle?”
“Yes,” Grant said. “Artie said it was big enough.”
“That’s a lot of people living on one fuckin’ boat for a long time, but whatever. Anyway, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to load everything from the cabin we can fit into that canoe and tow it just like you planned. Whatever won’t fit you can keep. Like you said, it’s your stuff anyway and this is your home away from home. If you don’t try to fuck with me I’m not even going to give you the ass whipping you deserve for all the trouble you’ve caused me and the lies you just told me to my face. No, I’m just going to forget all that and leave you here where you wanted to be so bad ever since the power went out. But Rastaman here goes with us. He knows where that catamaran is and he’s going to show us, if he values his life.” Joey glared at Scully: “You got that, Bob Marley?”
“That’s crazy, Joey! If you leave me here, what are you going to tell Jessica? You think she’s just going to want you back after what happened in New Orleans? How are you going to explain why you and your buddy Zach are in the boat with Scully and I’m not with you?”
“Easy! You had an accident and it was really awful, but there was nothing anyone could do. Mr. Scully may have one, too, if he doesn’t do what we tell him.”
“They’ll never believe that horseshit. They’re going to know immediately you’re lying and they’re going to think you killed me to get that Johnboat. Casey’s dad and uncle are not going to want you two on board anyway, even if Jessica did. What do you know about sailing?”
“I don’t know jack shit about it, but they’re gonna want us on board, trust me. I’ve got something they’re gonna need when they get where they’re going. Toss me the bag, Zach!”
“This may not be much good around here, but there’s gotta be somewhere that wasn’t affected by this blackout. If Casey’s uncle is the sailor they claim he is, he’ll know that, and he’ll know where to go. And he’ll know that when he gets there, he’s going to need some of this to live.”
There was no doubt it was a sizeable stash, but Grant knew it wouldn’t matter. From what they’d discussed that one night they all camped together on the riverbank, where Larry Drager was planning to go, money wouldn’t be all that useful even in normal times. Besides that, the collapse of the grid was likely so widespread that paper currency was worthless everywhere.
“He’s not going to care about your fucking money, and neither is Jessica!”
“We’ll see. Meanwhile, you can enjoy your cabin in the woods and think about how much fun Zach and I are going to be having with your two girlfriends on some nice beach on the islands.”